STVINCENTPAMOT PROGRAMME Report to World Parrot Trust By AG. Greenwood,MA VetMBMIBiol MRCVS INTRODUCTION Between20-26May1994I visitedSt Vincentonbehalfof theWorld ParrotTrust(WPT),fundedby a grantfrom theU.K.Foreignand Commonwealth Office.Theaimsof thevisit werefourfold:1.Todeterminethe sexandhealth statusof theStVincentparrots heldin thegovernmentcaptive breedingproject 2.Toassesstheprogressand aviculturalmanagement of the project 3.Todeterminethebestwayin whichfurtheravailablefunds shouldbespentto supportand improvetheproject 4.To assesstheneedfor continuingexternalfinancial support Apreviousvisit by D.Jeggoand A.Allchurchof JerseyWildlife Preservation Trust(lWPT)(St VincentReport1990)hadtakena similarcourse,but fewof their recommendations havebeentaken up,largelyfrom alackof external financialsupport.Thisreportwill amplifyandupdatesomeof the informationin JeggoandAllchurch. Myvisit includedgeneral discussions andvisitsto theforest reserves, andacompleteveterinary andaviculturalreviewof thein situ captivebreedingprogramme. BACKGROUND Myvisithadbeenapprovedby Hon. Allan J Cruickshank, the Minister of
Agriculture,andMr Carlton . Samuel, thePermanent Secretary. . Muchof thebackground informationwasobtainedthrough discussions with theForest Departmentandexaminationof
StreetMarket, Kingstown, St. Vincent.
their records. The Forest Department is a division of the Ministry of Agriculture, and has about 35 staff. Brian Johnson is head of the Forest Department (as at the time of Jeggoand Allchurch's visit in 1990)but the then Forest Officer in charge of the Parrot project, Lennox Quammie, was replaced in 1992 by Fitzroy Springer,who underwent training in the UK, at JWPT and the WPT headquarters at ParadisePark.
number even in the many published reports of survey efforts seems obscure. Nevertheless, when the 1992 census suggested an increase to about 800 birds it was believed to have been inaccurate, until the same total began to be revealed in the 1994 census (now almost completed). The increase may wellbe due to the inclusion of new forest areas in the count as well as a definite upward trend in well-surveyed areas.
their recollection is that the 1988 bird is 085 Female, which is now in Aviary 4 and that its parents were the Aviary 3 pair, 087M x 111F. Furthermore, the records of ring numbers for 1992birds have been mislaid.
Wild population and habitat Whenlast surveyed in 1984, the total forest areaof St Vincent was 13000 hectares,and no more.than 500 hectares are believed to have been lost since then~Not all of this is suitable parrot habitat or within protected reserves,but in generalit appears that the rate of forest encroachment and destruction is quite Iow.The role of the Forest Department is entirely one of conservation management of the existing forest, which is recognised as providing the island's sole source of water and, through hydroelectric schemes, the majority of its power.A deliberate policy of not building roads into forest areas has clearly helped and there is no commercial forestry on government lands. Biennial surveys of the wild parrot population are carried out by Fitzroy Springer, with 6 helpers. The census system used is designed to detect trends in the population rather than give an absolute number. Although a population of 4-500 has regularly been quoted for the St Vincent parrot, the basis for this absolute
Captive programme St Vincent Amazons have been held at the Nichols' Wildlife Complex in the Botanical Gardens near Kingstownsince 1987. Since 1990, when there were 19 birds, the
number):-
Photo: Andrew Greenwood
~
AVlCULJURE REVlEW Captive breeding success The distribution of birds in the four breeding aviaries is as follows (all birds carry an open US-type steel ring, marked SVGand a three figure
Aviary1. 112Maleand 108 Female 2. 103 Male and 104 Female 3. 087 Male and III Female 4. 079 Male and 085 Female
number held there has increased to 34 (plus 2 chicks in the nest). There
Annual production of surviving chicks has been as follows:-
are also a pair of Vervet Monkeys (Cercopithecusaethiops),a breeding group of about 10 agoutis (probably Dasyprocta antilliensis), two Orange-winged Amazons (A. arnazonica) and one Mealy Amazon (A. farinosa). The fourth cage in this "local fauna" area is now occupied by a young St Vincent parrot. The structure of the complex is as described in 1990, except there is an additional "quarantine aviary" used for sick or incoming birds, and two of the three public display aviaries have been opened into one
1988 1 (in a group aviary)
largeflightaviarybythe removalof wire panels. There are 14 birds in this large flight, and 6 others in the adjoining aviary. Five birds are in the quarantine aviary and four pairs are in the four breeding
flights. Aviary staff at the Botanic Gardens consists of 3 keepers working overlappingshifts (07001600h and 1O00-1800h),and a nightwatchman, under the management of Fitzroy Springer. There are some 45 other birds in registered private ownership throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines, which are inspected every 6 months by Fitzroy Springer. I saw five of these birds on the nearby resort of Young Island, owned by Mr V Brown. There is some confusion in the records about parentage. The main record registered a bird SVG081 as captivebred in 1988 from 109Mx 108F. However, no bird 081 could be located among the group and there was no record of re-ringing (although it was recorded as a female by Jeggo and Allchurch in 1990). The keepers' records and
1989 0 1990 3 - Aviary 1 1 - Aviary 3
1991 4 - Aviary1 1 - Aviary 3 (Died at 6 mths)
1992 3 - Aviary1 1993 2 -Aviary 1 Total 15 At present (May 1994) Aviary 1 has 2 chicks in the nest and Aviary 3 has hatched 1 chick (DNS)and has another clutch of eggs,at least one of which is fertile. Aviaries 2 and 4 have produced infertile eggs since 1991 and 1993 respectively, including this year. Sex, weight and identification The St Vincent parrots split into 14 males and 13 females (14,13), with an additional 2,4 known sex birds and one unsexed aged specimen. The males further subdivided into 4 innnature and 10 mature birds, and the females into 2 immature and 11 mature birds. Care is needed with such interpretations, especially with males, but known age birds correlated with these subjective findings, reinforcing the likely age of sexual maturity at around 5 years. Of the birds in the breeding aviaries, only 103 (Aviary 2) and 079 (Aviary 4) were sexed to confirm they were males, because of constant infertility in these pairs. This was valuable, as 079 was found to be very fat (1100g) and will be replaced by another suitable male from the group. With the exception of this bird and another with a fatty tumour (see below), weights varied from 480g - 660g. Mostof the birds at 550g or less had some defect which
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